The Gun Counter

RUNNING THE AK (OR MINI-14, OR M14, OR.....)

Often times the rifle doctrine is heavily influenced by pistol doctrine. If you look at much of the rifle material being taught at "shooting schools" today, you can see IPSC fingerprints all over it. That is neither good nor bad, but it is true. The problem is that match is over when the "stage" has been completed, or when the referee blows his whistle. Not so in a fight.

Take the issue of the Tactical and Speed Loads. The tactical reload was first written about by McBride in "A Rifleman Went To War". It was later publicized more by Chuck Taylor who claimed its invention and prescribed it for a lull in the fight. While Taylor taught a "Speed Load" that jettisoned an empty magazine for pistol, he was dead against it for rifle or SMG, teaching instead to retain empty OR partial magazines for later use. He went on to describe how a Claymore Bag could be improvised for such use at a time when Dump Pouches were not yet invented.

I queried the guys at WT and the 16K subscribers to Warrior News about instances they were aware of where an actual "speed load" for pistol OR rifle saved anyone in a fight. While there were many instances where people had reloaded after the fight, or reloaded behind cover, no one was aware of any event where the good guy was saved by being able to pull off an IPSC reload. Hmmm.

When I began revising my Kalashnikov Rifle program, I scraped everything off the table and began afresh. I did not want to drag-over AR-centric, Police-centric, or Pistol-centric thinking. I discussed the needs with plenty of combat veterans from police special operations, civilian events, as well as military events. This included contacts from several armies, both US and foreign (Russian Spetsnaz, Spanish Legion, British Marines, French Foreign legion, Swiss, German, Serbian, as well as militia groups from various wars in Lebanon and other places).

The picture we ended up with did not look anything at all like a typical American Urban Rifle Class.

Here is what I do for weapon manipulation with an AK. It is sort of a flow chart or a decision ladder.

WEAPON STOPS WORKING AS EVIDENCED BY DEAD TRIGGER

ARE YOU INSIDE PISTOL RANGE?

IF YES - THEN TRANSITION TO PISTOL

IF NO - ARE YOU BEHIND COVER?

IF NO - GET BEHIND COVER

IF YES - RELOAD THE GUN (OLD MAGAZINE OUT AND STOWED - NEW MAGAZINE IN - RUN THE BOLT)

DID THAT FIX THE GUN?

IF YES - CONTINUE KILLING BAD GUYS

IF NO - TAKE MAGAZINE OUT - RUN BOLT 3 TIMES - REPLACE MAGAZINE - RUN THE BOLT

DID THAT FIX IT?

IF YES - CONTINUE KILLING BAD GUYS

IF NO - FIX BAYONETS

This exchange of magazines and the running of the bolt is an essential skill for AK use and I suggest all AK shooters train it extensively.

Gabe Suarez